Michael Cormac Newell (born 28th March, 1942) directed twenty-one episodes of Coronation Street (under the name of Cormac Newell) in 1966 and worked on many other television productions before eventually becoming a hugely successful director of British and American films. A graduate from Cambridge Unversity in English, his credits include Four Weddings And A Funeral, Donnie Brasco, Mona Lisa Smile and Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.

In a 1995 interview for The South Bank Show Newell claimed he learned more about his job from having to direct a hungover and bad-tempered Patricia Phoenix than from any other experience in his career.